Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley (30) leaves the field after an NFL football game against Arizona Cardinals at Twickenham Stadium in London, Sunday Oct. 22, 2017. The Rams won 33-0. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland)

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Drew Stanton (5) leaves the field with Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay after an NFL football game at Twickenham Stadium in London, Sunday Oct. 22, 2017. The Rams won 33-0. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland)

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff throws his cap into the crowd after an NFL football game against Arizona Cardinals at Twickenham Stadium in London, Sunday Oct. 22, 2017. The Rams won 33-0. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against Arizona Cardinals at Twickenham Stadium in London, Sunday Oct. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (18) runs into the end zone for a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against Arizona Cardinals at Twickenham Stadium in London, Sunday Oct. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland)

Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley (30) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the first half of an NFL football game against Arizona Cardinals at Twickenham Stadium in London, Sunday Oct. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp (18) is tackled by Arizona Cardinals Josh Bynes which forced an incomplete pass in the end zone during the first half of an NFL football game at Twickenham Stadium, in London, Sunday Oct. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff (16) is tackled by Arizona Cardinals’ Tyrann Mathieu (32) and Deone Bucannon (20) during the second half of an NFL football game at Twickenham Stadium in London, Sunday Oct. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley holds off Arizona Cardinals inside linebacker Deone Bucannon during the second half of an NFL football game at Twickenham Stadium, in London, Sunday Oct. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff (16) forces his way into the end zone to score a touchdown against Arizona Cardinals’ Antoine Bethea (41) and Tyvon Branch (27) during the first half of an NFL football game at Twickenham Stadium in London, Sunday Oct. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff (16) forces his way into the end zone to score a touchdown against Arizona Cardinals’ Antoine Bethea (41) and Tyvon Branch (27) during the first half of an NFL football game at Twickenham Stadium in London, Sunday Oct. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Los Angeles Rams free safety Lamarcus Joyner (20) runs with the ball after making an interception during the first half of an NFL football game against Arizona Cardinals at Twickenham Stadium in London, Sunday Oct. 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

LONDON — Wade Phillips shrugged a couple weeks ago. He seemed almost bored by the questions, even as everybody who followed the Rams wondered what in the world was wrong with their defense.

Apparently it wasn’t anything Phillips, with his 40 years of NFL coaching, couldn’t fix.

The magic happened at halftime three weeks ago at Dallas. Since then, the Rams have allowed only 39 points in 14 quarters. The high point came Sunday, when the Rams’ defense shut out Arizona, 33-0, knocked quarterback Carson Palmer out of the game and shut down running back Adrian Peterson.

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The Rams forced two more turnovers Sunday and held the Cardinals to 193 yards and 10 first downs.

“It’s just us coming into our own,” linebacker and team captain Alec Ogletree said. “We didn’t start how we wanted to start. We knew we had the players and the ability to do a lot of stuff, but you just have to keep chugging along, keep plugging at it until you get it right. We still have some things to work on and get better at. We definitely haven’t peaked yet, for sure. There’s definitely a lot more to come.”

The transition to Phillips’ 3-4 scheme was clunky, and it probably didn’t help that star lineman Aaron Donald missed all of training camp and the season opener because of a contract holdout.

The Rams allowed 99 points in their first 14 quarters, and they couldn’t stop Dallas in the first half of that game. Then everything turned, dramatically and quickly, and the Rams have been thriving in areas where they struggled early in the season.

Run defense is foremost. Arizona’s Adrian Peterson rushed for 134 yards against Tampa Bay a week earlier, but the Rams held Peterson to 21 yards on 11 carries. Peterson’s longest run was for 6 yards.

“That’s how you do it,” Rams lineman Michael Brockers said. “If you get 11 hats to the ball and stop him before he gets started, man, he turns into a normal human being (instead of) the Hall of Famer he truly is. I think that’s what we did today and we did a good job at it.”

The Rams stuffed Peterson early, then played increasingly good pass defense and started to get to Palmer in the second quarter. The big play came with under six minutes left in the second quarter, when Ogletree smashed Palmer on a sack and broke Palmer’s arm. The injury is expected to require surgery, and Palmer could miss the rest of the season.

Arizona crossed midfield only once after Drew Stanton took over for Palmer.

“It’s unfortunate,” Brockers said. “You don’t want to hurt anybody, but when you get out there and you get that quarterback out, it messes up the rhythm of their game and I think we just took advantage of it.”

ANOTHER HUNDRED

Todd Gurley, who never rushed for more than 85 yards in a game last season, topped the century mark for the fourth time in his past five games, as he gained 106 yards on 22 carries. Gurley scored on an 18-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and also caught four passes for 48 yards.

“Whenever he’s getting going, it obviously helps our whole offense,” quarterback Jared Goff said. “I love handing off the ball and letting him run. There’s nothing better than that, letting him go. Then obviously it opens the pass game a lot more, so any time we can get him going, we want to.

“I think it’s a testament to the guys up front. I think (Gurley) would say the same thing. It’s nice having the holes he’s having now, and him doing the rest.”

Gurley did agree with Goff, and deflected praise, but he’s clearly running with more confidence than in 2016. The Cardinals hadn’t allowed an opposing running back to rush for 100 yards this season.

“It felt good,” Gurley said. “Coach did a great job with the play-calling and the line was doing a great job of creating holes, and me and Malcolm (Brown) were able to have a couple big runs.

FEELING FRESH

The Rams had high praise for the way Coach Sean McVay handled their week.

Last year, when the Rams lost to the New York Giants, they spent almost a full week in London, with the hope that it would acclimate them to the time change. It didn’t work, as the Rams looked flat. This time, the Rams spent four extra days in Jacksonville and didn’t arrive in London until Friday morning.

“The way we did it this time was way better. Way better, I think,” Goff said. “We felt good. I think you can ask anybody. We felt really, really good (Saturday) and the day before and all the way throughout the week in Jacksonville.”

McVay pushed the credit for the sharp play back onto his players.

“I think it’s them,” McVay said. “We’ve got mature players. We’ve got high-character players in that room, and they knew we were coming on a business trip. They did a great job of just taking it one day at a time. That’s a credit to our players.”

INJURY REPORT

Rams center John Sullivan left the game in the third quarter with a left knee injury and limped to the locker room.

“I think John is going to be OK,” McVay said. “The early results on him were positive.”

The only other apparent injury for the Rams was to rookie receiver Josh Reynolds, who suffered a concussion on the opening kickoff.

Rams safety Cody Davis missed the game with an injury, but safety Lamarcus Joyner returned to the lineup.

Rich Hammond was a high school senior when the Rams left town in 1995, and now he's their beat writer for the Southern California News Group. A native of L.A., Rich broke in at the Daily Breeze as a college freshman and also has covered USC, the Kings, the Lakers and the Dodgers. He still loves sports and telling stories. Don't take the sarcastic tweets too seriously.

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